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Archos 101 or Viewsonic G-Tab ?

I would like to first say that I'm not an expert on the Gtab and by no means the Archos 101 (still waiting for delivery; hopefully next week) .... but from personal experience I recently owned the Gtab, which I purchased at Sears when it was on sale ....

I had it for approximately 10 days before i returned it ..... I had problems reading on the Gtab .... I like to read comics/manga and had difficulty viewing them on the Gtab .... They looked fine but not focused and it seemed to looked doubled (somewhat of a drop shadow) in portrait mode .... it would really do a number on my eyes .... Viewing angles were a problem when reading had to get it into the perfect angle without deviating .... overall not a good comic book/manga reading experience IMHO ..... Also Pinch to Zoom was not consistent .... seemed like it had a mind of its own .... Gtab has wonderful specs, that is why I snatched up in the first place ....

I would definitely have to say that the Gtab is not for the individual not willing to invest some time with it (XDA for Rooting, Roms etc).... Out of box experience is not the best ....

but when i researched, read and watched countless reviews I decided to take it back and order the Archos 101 .... The price is great (money back in my pocket) ... I'm hoping that viewing angles are better .. light design ... kick stand .... I worry about the here and now .... not what the future brings .... I will worry about the future when it gets here ...

With all that being said... I would like to reiterate that I'm not an expert on either device ... and just giving my two cents .... my experiences may completely differ from others, just hope it helps .... Happy New Years to all !!!!! :)
 
If you got the archos for portrait reading your going to be disappointed. It definitly does have the "drop shadow" look you mention. One eye is ok, but the other is seeing a reversal due to viewing angle. Sorry. Im switching to a g tab for better specs... plus viewsonic makes monitors.
 
Moykie said:
I would like to first say that I'm not an expert on the Gtab and by no means the Archos 101 (still waiting for delivery; hopefully next week) .... but from personal experience I recently owned the Gtab, which I purchased at Sears when it was on sale ....

I had it for approximately 10 days before i returned it ..... I had problems reading on the Gtab .... I like to read comics/manga and had difficulty viewing them on the Gtab .... They looked fine but not focused and it seemed to looked doubled (somewhat of a drop shadow) in portrait mode .... it would really do a number on my eyes .... Viewing angles were a problem when reading had to get it into the perfect angle without deviating .... overall not a good comic book/manga reading experience IMHO ..... Also Pinch to Zoom was not consistent .... seemed like it had a mind of its own .... Gtab has wonderful specs, that is why I snatched up in the first place ....

I would definitely have to say that the Gtab is not for the individual not willing to invest some time with it (XDA for Rooting, Roms etc).... Out of box experience is not the best ....

but when i researched, read and watched countless reviews I decided to take it back and order the Archos 101 .... The price is great (money back in my pocket) ... I'm hoping that viewing angles are better .. light design ... kick stand .... I worry about the here and now .... not what the future brings .... I will worry about the future when it gets here ...

With all that being said... I would like to reiterate that I'm not an expert on either device ... and just giving my two cents .... my experiences may completely differ from others, just hope it helps .... Happy New Years to all !!!!! :)
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Thanks for the info, this is quite helpful, I'm feeling more and more confident about picking up this Archos 101, now its just a waiting game until I'm able to get the last 50 I need to get this thing, I can't wait!
 
Sam Voss said:
Thanks for the info, this is quite helpful, I'm feeling more and more confident about picking up this Archos 101, now its just a waiting game until I'm able to get the last 50 I need to get this thing, I can't wait!
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Might have one for sale soon ;)
 
Your welcome Sam and SlvrScoobie thanx for the info also .....

I would like to add that it wasn't only the reading experience .... also experienced to many random freezes during the time I had it .... more than i was comfortable with ..... and had to reboot numerous times to get browser to function adequately .... could've been my naivete ...... Did try Vegan and TnT Lite Roms ... but my above statements and previous ones would probably be more suited for the individual that is not Tech Savvy and are looking for a more economical choice .....
 
I'm going to throw something else out there. I just returned the Archos 7 Home Tablets that I bought for my kids.

While I really enjoy my Archos 70, the Home Tablet was not near usable enough. No Kindle or Nook app, no games (not any good ones anyway), poor touchscreen due to the resistive touch screen...just didn't make for a good $200 investment.

I got them 2 nookcolor e-readers and after spending a little time hacking it, it has great functionality. It's not perfect...but for $250 it's a choice to be considered. Build quality is impressive and it works as a tablet pretty well (once you hack it and do MANY things to customize it). Check out the video below...but I don't recommend paying for this guy to help you with it as he is "promoting" his services for $60. I did mine for free with the info provided in the nookcolor section of this Forum. If you can use ADB...you are more than halfway there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHF-rksuCy8
 
UBRocked said:
I'm going to throw something else out there. I just returned the Archos 7 Home Tablets that I bought for my kids.

While I really enjoy my Archos 70, the Home Tablet was not near usable enough. No Kindle or Nook app, no games (not any good ones anyway), poor touchscreen due to the resistive touch screen...just didn't make for a good $200 investment.

I got them 2 nookcolor e-readers and after spending a little time hacking it, it has great functionality. It's not perfect...but for $250 it's a choice to be considered. Build quality is impressive and it works as a tablet pretty well (once you hack it and do MANY things to customize it). Check out the video below...but I don't recommend paying for this guy to help you with it as he is "promoting" his services for $60. I did mine for free with the info provided in the nookcolor section of this Forum. If you can use ADB...you are more than halfway there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHF-rksuCy8
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Dang your kids are lucky.lol I bought my wife a nook color too and i agree its a great alternatve if u want a basic android tablet.
 
So, now your recommending not getting an Archos tab?

Edit: sorry, on my phone, session got kicked and didn't show a post. Anyone know why I. Have to relogin all the time? Using dolphin hd on D1
 
Sam Voss said:
Ah, that makes sense, I should have put more thought into it. Thanks
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No Prob...I HATE the fact that Archos chose the names "Archos 70 Internet Tablet" & "Archos 7 Home Tablet". If you are not familiar with their product lines you can easily confuse both of them.

The only things I'm envious about with the NOOKcolor is the build quality and screen resolution. I'm not exchanging my "70" anytime soon :)

Having said that, the screen is better for e-reading on the NOOKcolor than the Archos 70. If e-reading is a big thing for people, the NOOK should be considered IMO. To make it a decent tablet...you gotta hack at it, but it is a nice little device.

The "Archos 7 Home Tablet" came out earlier this year and it is barely a tablet. More like a media player that just happens to run Android 1.5. Not even comparable with the "70 Internet Tablet" other than general size and appearance.
 
xmr405o said:
No, I think UB returned the Archos 7 home tablets he got his kids. I think the nook color is quite the upgrade from the archos 7.
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Yeah, it is definitely and upgrade...specs and price :eek:. $50 "upgrade" for each tablet but it's worth it. We wanted them to have e-readers and you can't make that a reality on the Archos 7. Now they can play Angry Birds so that's been the highlight of the day for both of them :D
 
Ah, thanks for clarifying, I thought now I shouldn't purchase the Archos 101, very poor planning on Archos' part, why name things so close? If one getgs a bad review a lot of people may get turned off the the good one because they think its one in the same.
 
Archos 7 tablets are just that, 7. And are named Home tablets.
Archos 70 are Internet tablets.

But in the fast pace typing of the net, I can see why some would be confused if not typing it correctly or explain which one we are referring to. Home or Internet.

TS
 
UBRocked said:
Yeah, it is definitely and upgrade...specs and price :eek:. $50 "upgrade" for each tablet but it's worth it. We wanted them to have e-readers and you can't make that a reality on the Archos 7. Now they can play Angry Birds so that's been the highlight of the day for both of them :D
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UB why dod you go with the Nookcolor when the Archos 70 could be had from the site with a 20% discount? What was your deciding factor for the Nook over the 70?

Daedalus
 
Daedalus said:
UB why dod you go with the Nookcolor when the Archos 70 could be had from the site with a 20% discount? What was your deciding factor for the Nook over the 70?

Daedalus
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Well, I could buy it locally so that had a lot to do with it. I didn't really look at the A70 for the kids cause availibility has been hit or miss. Plus the Barnes and Noble name went a long way to justify the extra cost for the "e-readers" as far as the wife is concerned ;)

For me the A70 is a better fit. Webcam and microphone are "nice to have" features for conference calling although I haven't actually used it for that yet. You don't have either feature with the NOOKcolor.

After a few days of playing with the NOOKcolor I'm still impressed with its ability to function as a tablet. Kids are loving them and I have different tech to fondle...which is one more reason for them to not have A70's like me :) Device variety = Happy UBR.
 
Got my Gtab - and I must say, its a pretty impressive upgrade from the 101. Its snappy, quick, no "crosses" over the screen at many viewing angles. Colors and screen look better, not great. a Lot heavier, but also much much more solidly built. no flexing.
and the custom roms!!
 
Just wanted to drop in as an owner. I have had my Gtab for about a week now and i have mind rooted to Vegan 5.1 using guidance from the guys at xda developers and Rom manager.

i can tell you that when paired with proper softer ware, the gtab is the defacto fastest tablet currently available.

http://vegantab.gojimi.com/

It flies, runs a number of video modes, flash works, it has a very strong n1 wireless capability (n1 is way faster than b/g), and the screen isnt that bad. Yea, its TN but its 1024x600 and has a capacitive touch screen (like the ipad) not the old restrictive touch screen.

It has a full USB port, a micro SD slot (and you can stream movies and music DIRECTLY from the sd card..who else can do that?), along with a mini-usb, front facing camera, and the nvidia tegra combined with a dual core ARM cortex9 processor. Blue tooth works fine with wirless head phones for me, and everyone i have talked to has had near 100% compatibility with keyboards, mice and accessories. There is also an available doc that has HDMI output to larger screens along with additional usb/audio connections. With the microSD card you can get a total 48G of storage (buitl in 16g plus 32g microsd).

Can ipad (or anyone) do ANY of that?

Now i dont want to come off as too much of a fan boy here so here are the cons:

The viewing angle quite frankly, sucks. I would love to see an IPS screen on this thing and if they were available (and i had the skills) i would replace the screen in a HEART BEAT.

The stock ROM/soft ware sucks. I mean REALLY sucks. I mean....its broken. Its dysfunctional...it crashes, its slow, its ugly and it is just flat out infuriating. (remember the ones that got pulled from staples beause of a high number of returns? Yea now you know why) Don't bother buying a gtab unless you plan on puttig a custom ROM on it.

On the plus side....with clock work mod ...this thing is nearly brick proof. Especially if you get nv flash and the correct usb driver for your pc operating system.

I know this becuase i completely deleted everything on the internal card and slammed it into a permanent boot loop with no back ups..and with a usb cable and nvflash, i got it back to stock rom in less than 5 minutes. (had clock work mod on it and that was the only thing working).

Anyway, with vegan 5.1 (and these are updated about every two weeks) this thing is way faster and does way more than the ipad could ever hope to do (i am not joking).

One more con. Google does not have official support for tablet size apps and the market comes completely broken on this thing as well (something thats easily fixed once rooted). But once you get full market access....there are several apps that wont run or crash. This is not the fault of the gtab but rather the immaturity of the apps for tablets.

Come spring this thing is fully capable of running Honeycomb and what ever new tablet certified market google comes out with (it has the same specs as the upcoming honeycomb tablets).

I doubt there will be many more tablets that are this brick proof, this open and easy to mod, and with this much support from the developers. Its basically a hobbiest development tool for the upcoming Honeycomb tablets.

I hope that feed back helps.l

By the way, it runs angry birds, and would run any of the up coming opengl/quake II/quake III/games and works with emulators and aftermarket controllers with ease. With a quadrant score around 2400. Frankly, the archos is completely outclassed on raw power by the gtab.
 
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Also, flash works on news stations,

Hulu and tv.com works, You tubes work.

And thats with a HACKED set up. Officially viewsonic will have a fully certified flash player available some time this month. I(although the current version seems to be working fine, ((it didnt on initial release))

Copy protected CDs are not an issue with the right ripper.

More screen shots:
 
Id have to say i agree on all points. Its a bit heavy, and the screen sucks, but no more so than the Archos, and i feel the inversion point (where whites turn black) is more noticeable on the Archos, and the colors look better on the gtab. Portrait mode is better too.
Only problem i have right now is Hulu, the hack isnt working for me. I think that might be a permissions thing though.. forgot to set them.
 
Thanks for this entire thread and posts. I am a previous D1 and now DX owner. I have not modded anything before but am very computer savvy. I expect to pick up a G Tab in the next week or so, with the full expectation of Rooting and romming the TAB. I have not used a G Tab yet, but did play with a buddies 101. The 101 was sluggish and seemed under powered.

When you compare specs and future upgrade-ability of the G Tab with Honeycomb.. along with the price point.. I think the G Tab will be the right choice. I think the Archos 70 and 101 will be handicapped and won't run anything beyond 2.2.

I owned and Archos 605Wifi for years, when everyone around me was getting Ipod Touches. I think it was a great device, but ARCHOS has a history or slow/poor CS and they nickel and dime you on the codecs. They did that with the 605 where you had to buy 3 or 4 codecs in order to play common audio and video formats.

Whatever you ultimately buy.. be happy with it and enjoy, but I'll be getting a G Tab.
 
SlvrScoobie said:
Id have to say i agree on all points. Its a bit heavy, and the screen sucks, but no more so than the Archos, and i feel the inversion point (where whites turn black) is more noticeable on the Archos, and the colors look better on the gtab. Portrait mode is better too.
Only problem i have right now is Hulu, the hack isnt working for me. I think that might be a permissions thing though.. forgot to set them.
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+1 one on the weight. I seriously could see myself buying BOTH a 7inch tab and a 10inch tab (one for laying in bed and one for sitting on the couch). The 10 inch is just too heavy to use unless you are SITTING UP.

I seriously looked at an archos 70 for a 7 incher, but ill wait to see what all comes out this spring. (since i doubt the current archos offerings have the hardware to support honeycomb..(90% they dont)).

Sorry for the missing screen shots on my previous post..ill be post some more screen shots showing the gtabl playing from tv.com/hulu, and playing some movies from SD card. ( am still playing with the dvd ripper codec settings trying to find the best resolution/bit rate etc that gives me best picture quality without hogging too much memory).

Cheers and happy tableting!
 
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